For this column I’m borrowing a bit from a piece that Joel Belz wrote for
World Magazine over five years ago. His message was powerful and is still
relevant and much needed today.
I write often about what I have deemed the “moral issues”
(abortion, homosexuality, marriage, family, evolution, and so on) of our time.
I prefer this label over “social issues” because I think it better describes
what is really happening and what is really at stake. Cultures, especially the
American Christian culture, all over the world are under attack (and have been
for decades now) on the specific fronts that are the moral issues mentioned
above.
This begs the question, why? Why is there, and why has there
been, such a focus on these particular issues? It seems that, for a while now,
young people across the political and religious spectrums have been asking that
question. And in the age of Obama, many young folks, including young conservatives
and young evangelicals (not always mutually exclusive), have decided that Christian
conservatives are expending too much time and effort when it comes to things
like abortion, homosexuality, and marriage.
Belz addressed such concerns and noted that it was time for
Christian conservatives to “stop apologizing” for the attention we give the
moral issues. He also noted that now is not the time for Christian
conservatives and our like-minded allies to lower our voices. The reason: the
moral issues are unique because today—unlike racism, poverty, and such—national
movements and organizations have devoted themselves to preaching the value and
legitimacy of abortion, homosexuality, and redefining marriage.
In addition, the organizations peddling these lies have
garnered significant support from a doting media and political allies within
the Democratic Party. As Belz alludes, which national organizations have
devoted themselves to promoting poverty? Where are the evangelicals and their
political allies calling for more racism? Who is donning pink sneakers and a catheter to allow “access” to a dirtier environment?
Once we take a stand, Christian conservatives should expect almost every manner of insults, or at least calls for apology, to be hurled our way. Certainly
conservatives of every stripe often suffer from the ridiculous hyperbole thrown
around by the left. We get accused of racism and the like, but almost always
the charges ring hollow. You don’t support Obama? You’re a racist. You agree
with the Zimmerman verdict? You’re a racist. You think poverty in the black
community is due mostly to the breakdown of the
family? You’re a racist.
The homosexual agenda first sought (and achieved) the decriminalization
of homosexual behavior, but this was not enough. It now seeks the full-on moral
legitimacy (which involves the complete support and enforcement of the law at
every level) of everything to do with homosexuality. A national redefinition of
marriage is the best means to this end. As I have noted
before, once the homosexual agenda has the full force of the law behind it,
homosexuality will be legally forced on school, churches, businesses, and
families alike.
With a longer history of legal protections behind it, unlike
the homosexual agenda, the abortion industry has been more on defense than
offense. The pro-life movement has made and continues to make great gains.
However, still about a million children a year are killed in the womb in the U.S.
What has given the pro-life movement so much success lately
is that modern science has brought into the light what many of us already knew:
the fetus, at every stage, is a human being. Science (legitimate and non-politicized)
will eventually do the same to the homosexual agenda: expose the truth. You
can’t dodge the truth forever, and all truth is God’s truth, however it is
revealed.
As these battles continue, perhaps what is most disturbing
is the fact that Americans elected as their President a man who has
enthusiastically taken up the promotion of these lies. Again, the greatest
disappointment is with the electorate, not Barack Obama. Many, but not enough,
of us knew exactly what he stood for.
Thus we are a nation greatly deceived or disastrously
apathetic when it comes to issues that are of eternal importance. The abortion
industry and the homosexual agenda, because they attack the family, strike at
the very heart of our culture. Thus, loud and clear voices proclaiming the
truth are needed now more than ever.
Copyright 2013, Trevor Grant Thomas
At the Intersection of Politics, Science, Faith, and Reason
Trevor and his wife Michelle are the authors of: Debt Free Living in a Debt Filled World
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